Lessons from my mother: Part 2

I think my mother was born reading.  Books were so important to her.  She read to us all the time.  The best times  I remember were sitting in her lap in the evening and looking at the pictures while she read all sorts of stories to me.  There were always books or magazines or newspapers near her chair and bedside. 

This picture was taken inside our log house in the Wilderness.  Nina was just about 2 years old.  And look at that.  Mom has her, if not reading, at least looking at a newspaper.  I think my mother's love of reading was instilled in her by her father.  He had to stop his formal education when he was just a boy after his father was killed in a windstorm that hit their farm in Illinois.  He was a self-taught man who lacked formal schooling.  As a result, when he had a family and grew to be an important spokesman in his community, he always supported education and learning.  He served on the school board and often was a leader for all things educational.

My mother had a newspaper rack that sat on our kitchen table.  Every morning she would read the paper while she ate breakfast.  We were encouraged to read, even when we were eating.  Of course, we did talk to one another, but reading was encouraged anywhere we were.

She wrote very well too.  Most of all she loved to write poetry and she could come up with wonderful lines, that set the tone for almost any occasion.  I have them stored away with her things, but I am going to get them out and put them in a journal to keep with my other family joys.

My mother would read anything that was of interest to her.  She was not much for fiction or great books.  She usually would choose a non-fiction autobiography of a famous person.  She loved to read about history and anything current.

The amazing thing was that she continued to read even when her eyesight was failing.  I was able to get her books on tape through the state library.  We would go over the list and she usually chose current bestsellers that had to do with world events or politics.  She was really up to date with most things that were happening both here and abroad.

When she was in the hospital for the last time she had two or three books with her.  One of them was about the conflict in the Mideast.   She told me she wanted to know why it was that people in other areas of world didn't like us very much.  And she was serious about finding out why.

She would watch TV just to pass the time.   But she would rather read the newspaper and newsmagazines to get  current information.

My brother Derek loved to read.  His library was full to overflowing.  My brother Paul loved to read.  He spent a lot of his free time in libraries, just browsing the shelves to see what he could find.  I love to read.  My book collection has been whittled down to just two large book shelves.  Books fill my life with joy.  I can escape into history, learn about what is happening all over the world, or just sit and read and dream.

Thank you Mom for teaching me to love to read.